Iraq: free for all

The West must open its eyes to the reality of life and death in Iraq, Nermeen Al-Mufti writes from Baghdad

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When President George W Bush declared the end of "major operations" in Iraq on 1 May 2003, he said that the world has become a safer place for America. Since then, Bush, his allies, secretaries, and commanders, have repeated the claim that the world has become safer for America; that 9/11 will not happen again. But the war on terror has to continue, Bush promises.

What no one seems to give a care about are the Iraqis who have gone to hell and back, from despotism to sanctions, from war to turmoil. Let the world be a safer place, said Major General Martin Dempsey, commander of the 354th Civil Affairs Brigade, on the day he ended his tour of duty. "You have made the world a safer place for your families," he told the soldiers.

And yet Iraqi borders were left unguarded for over six months, during which any terrorist, gangster, drug dealer and sex trader had no trouble sneaking into the country. And the Iraqis have been tossed from the frying pan into the fire. Death is closing on them from every direction. Crime is taking its toll. And as President Bush and his aides continue to boast of having made the world a safer place, Iraq slides deeper and deeper into blood-shed and despair.

The story of Sajidah, a 23-year-old bride, has run recently on the front page of the newspaper Al-Moatamar. She was abducted with her sister-in-law, 17-year-old Hanan, three days after her wedding in Mahmoudiyah, 25 kilometres south of Baghdad. The two women were taken by force, on forged passports, to Yemen via Syria. There, they discovered that they are among 130 young Iraqi women who have been abducted by a prostitution gang. The two women succeeded in contacting their family, who came and saved them. This crime sent shock waves through an already traumatised Iraq.

Fakhriyah is a drug addict. She cannot remember her father's name and does not know her exact age, but looks about 20. She says she was living in an orphanage and was abducted the day Baghdad fell, when the orphanage was ransacked. In her few moments of lucidity, Fakhriyah recalls that a US tank was stationed near the orphanage, which is near the central train station at a point not far from Al-Muthanna airport, which became a US base and prison. Her abductors took turns raping her, kept her for more time than she can remember, then threw her out on the street in which she now lives.

I met her at a coffeehouse that screens porno movies (laughably dubbed "cultural movies"). All the clientele of the coffeehouse are drug addicts. When she does not get to spend the night with one of the clients, she sleeps on the street, which is becoming more dangerous and fearsome as time passes. "I sniff glue and other stuff so I don't feel what's going on around me or who is raping me yet again," Fakhriyah says and leaves, looking for drugs to alleviate her recurring headache.

Rape was uncommon in Iraq. Police records before the occupation cite rape figures at less than a dozen or so per year. Some cases may have gone unreported in a country with strong tribal traditions, but for the figures to climb to dozens per month is something new and painful for Iraqis. Another tragedy is that of Sinaria, a nine-year-old who was raped close to her parents' home. The home is a hotel room in an area blighted with prostitution and crime. Her father kept taking her with him wherever he went after the incident to protect her from further rape attacks, and was generally kind to her. Her mother, however, turned against her. Her father finally placed her in a shelter.

Iraqi police sources say that most of the gangs that bring drugs into Iraq, run prostitution networks and abduct women are operated by non-Iraqis, but are helped by some Iraqis who have criminal records or who failed to find other employment.

In Baghdad alone, according to Ministry of Health statistics, terror operations and military action have led to the death of 730 men, 57 women, and 42 children, and to the injury of 4,260 men, 241 women and 151 children between 5 April and 31 August 2004. Dozens have died because of disease and lack of medication, or simply because they couldn't afford the price of expensive pharmaceuticals. Hundreds more have died in other provinces. The world might have become safe, but Iraqis are getting slaughtered.

For America to allegedly be safe from attacks similar to those of 9/11, Baghdad has been turned into a city of ghettos. Al-Mansur, for example, is crowded with people until 10pm, but the roads leading to it are empty and dangerous. The same is true for Al-Harithiyah, where fancy restaurants remain open till 11pm, but again the roads to that area are deserted. As for the poor districts, everyone is locked indoors as of sundown and the sense of isolation is heightened by power cuts.

For the world to become safer, US forces, having "liberated Iraq", are busy fighting terror. The civilian affairs brigades that have arrived in the country to "reconstruct" Iraq are busy improving living conditions for the military troops fighting "the enemy". Iraq remains un-reconstructed, overflowing with sewage, short of potable water.

Minister for Public Works Nesreen Berwari told Al- Ahram Weekly that more than half the children in Sadr City in Baghdad suffer from disease caused by polluted water. Her ministry has much to do but insufficient financial resources, not even from donor countries that had promised funds. The US government first promised to allocate $4 billion for infrastructure. The sum was then reduced to $2 billion to be dispensed over four years. The US Congress that had agreed to the $4 billion now intends, in an unprecedented move, to meet again and change its decision. The minister called on Arab and Gulf countries to provide funds for infrastructure, particularly for drinking water.

Those who say that the world is a safer place mean that America has become safer: Iraqis can just die; it doesn't matter. When an Iraqi is killed by "friendly" fire -- US fire, that is -- his family gets compensation of merely $200-500, and only after considerable paperwork. An American killed in a terror operation, in which the culprit is identified, is worth a $1 million in compensation. The "cheap" ones die so the "worthy" may survive -- no matter that the "cheap ones" built a great civilisation and had enough trouble already.